The Amazing Race 13: SeasonReview

Share.

Another successful season.

By Diana Steenbergen

Any show entering a thirteenth season runs the risk of becoming stale, but The Amazing Race has the whole world with which to work, and they do a good job of using it to their advantage. The audience may be familiar with the set-up of detours and roadblocks, but it is the variety of cultures and settings the teams encounter that makes the show consistently entertaining.

When the teams got to less known territory, like India or Kazakhstan, things were generally more interesting to watch, as less familiar surroundings have a tendency to frazzle the racers. Adding to this was the fact that by that time, the teams were pretty tired, since they had been racing for a while. This season's best episode was the second leg in India. It had a very funny roadblock involving racers being pelted with colored dye, which meant most of them were rainbow-colored for the rest of the leg. It also had one of the more confusing detour options, with a hilarious local man judging the results. It is always amusing when the producers get people with fun personalities to interact with the contestants.

One small complaint for this season is the fact that nearly every leg instructed the racers to get around by taxi. It is one thing to have the teams taking taxis from place to place part of the time, but a big element of watching the show is seeing people figure out how to get themselves around in unknown locations. It is less interesting seeing people arguing with taxi drivers than it is to see them trying to figure it out on their own.

For the most part, the race was designed well, and the tasks were often very funny. The planners must have had a desire to see the racers in more and more ridiculous situations, from wresting outfits, to performing local dances, to two-person cow costumes. Although one of the funniest moments couldn't possibly have been planned in advance, since the producers would have had no idea Dan would be so horrible at military marching. Also part of the good planning was that the distance between teams tended to reset itself throughout the race, letting teams that were further behind have a chance to catch up. I'm sure that was frustrating to the people in the lead, but it is always more exciting to watch a race when there is not one team so far out in front that the outcome is a forgone conclusion.

This season was cast with an adequate bunch of contestants; there were some standouts who were excellent racers and some who were not, and of course we have the usual bickering between and within teams. Terence seemed oblivious to how controlling and unreasonable he was to his partner Sarah, while separated couple Ken and Tina were more aware of their attitudes to each other, but still went through quite a bit of on-screen squabbling. Kelly and Christy seemed to think they were very fun and amusing, but they came off on screen as just mean. A feud between them and brother and sister team Nick and Starr that revolved around a sports bra was given far too much screen time. On the other end of the spectrum, there were immediate fan favorites like Mark and Bill who had fun and were enjoyable to watch. Another favorite, for me at least, was mother and son team Toni and Dallas. It was great to see a parent and child team on the show that can work really well together.

Luck played a major role this season, as it always does. One team in particular seemed to have more than their share of good luck, while another team that had been doing well made the unprecedented mistake of losing their passport and money. Both situations served as reminders that The Amazing Race is more than just completing challenges quickly; it involves keeping a cool head under pressure at all times and never giving up, because teams never know how someone else's bad day will end up benefiting them.

Phil Keoghan was again an excellent host; he sympathized with the sadness of teams that had been eliminated and he celebrated with those who did well. As an added bonus he even brought his father along as a greeter at the pit stop when the race went to New Zealand! And in the end, a very deserving team is added to the ranks of winners of The Amazing Race.